Vancouver Trip (Part 4) - The Snow

Besides visiting Jen and Chris, our other motivation to go up to Vancouver was to let Cruz experience snow for the first time.  It's important to Sue and me that our kids grow up experiencing seasons.  Of course, we picked a part of the country where the seasons are tempered.  At least compared to San Francisco, Los Gatos certainly does seem like it has seasons.  But still, our winters here never involve snow.  Needless to say, Cruz was excited to see actual snow after seeing pictures of it in his books.

How many of us can recall the excitement and wonderment when we saw snowfall for the first time?  As we get older, it's easy to get jaded over simple things like that.  But when Cruz saw that it was snowing outside of Jen's apartment, he was glued to the window in amazement.  By the time we went outside, however, it had mostly melted away.

For Cruz to get the full experience of snow, we knew we had to head north to Whistler, one of the best ski resorts in North America.  I love to ski and Whistler was the very first big resort I ever went to.  I was lucky enough to go two years in a row but after that it took me 16 years to return.

Now Cruz is too young to go skiing, but he did try to make a snow angel

And while I was hitting the slopes, Sue and Cruz made a snow man.

 

Here's the finished product!

Later, we all took a gondola ride (another trip highlight for Cruz) and had one of the most expensive snow tubing experiences ever.  It was $20 for one adult for an hour, and $15 for one child for an hour.  Cruz just barely made the height minimum (36 inches) thanks to his boots.

He refused to be towed in his tube (never a good sign), so I had to carry him, plus drag my tube and his about 100 yards uphill before we even got to the magic carpet to take us the rest of the way up the hill.  I could tell from the look on his face that he was a little unsure about the whole tubing thing.  Luckily, there was a boy that was about a year older than Cruz ahead of us and Cruz watched him go down right before us.  I was actually surprised when he agreed to go, but I think by that point he realized that there was only one way we were going down.

So he gets positioned into the tube, which effectively folds him in half with his legs sticking out on one side, and his head and arms sticking out on the other.  We go down the hill together, with me holding his tube.  I wish I had my iPhone videoing him.  Imagine a two year-old with a grimace and his eyes full of terror.  That was Cruz.

True to his tough-guy name, Cruz didn't cry though. However, as we began to slow down on the flat part he remarked, "Cruz liked that!" When I asked him if he'd like to go again, though, he replied "No... too fast."  Oh well, I still think it was $35 well spent.

As for Cruz, he was no worse for wear and as you can see below, he was quite happy with the snow tubing overall.

Although Whitney has technically seen snow fall for the first time, and has "played in the snow," we look forward to the time when she'll have her first real snow experience.